Almost there....and some background information

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Hello everyone!

I've decided that the easiest way for me to share with all of you my Polish experiences would be to create a travel blog, like this one, where I can post my stories and pictures. My last trip to Poland I was just sending out huge, massive emails and I was sometimes getting them sent back to me in my inbox. So, I figured this way I can send out the link to my travel blog and you can check in whenever you'd like. The plus side to doing it this way is that I can also attach pictures to the blogs as well (which I haven't figured out how yet but everything else on this site seems pretty self-explanitory).

So, as the title suggests, I am in fact not yet in Poland. I leave on September 20th from Chicago's Ohare Interational Aiport. After an exhilirating nine-and-a-half-hour flight I will arrive at Warsaw's Frederic Chopin International Airport on September 21st at 10am in the morning. On my last trip to Poland, I made many great friends. One in particular I met as she was working at the Summer School that I was attending. We actually became friends due to an error I made while attempting to ask someone to pass me the fish at lunch one day. As I was adjusting to the time change, taking intensive language classes, and struggling to remember even what my own native language was saying as how there were students there from allover the world, so, it was not rare for me in a half hour to have spoken with someone in Polish, English, Italian, and French, needless to say I was a bit tired. So, I asked "Czy mógłbym zaprosić rybę?" To which my friend Ola replies, "Where are you inviting the fish??? Zaprosić means "to invite"...poprosić means "to ask for..." So, anyhow, Ola and her husband (who just recently found out they are expecting!!! GRATULACJE!!) will pick me up from the airport in Warsaw and I am going to stay with them for about a week in Lublin before classes at Uniwersytet Warszawski (The University of Warsaw) begin on October 1st.

At this point I'm excited yet very nervous. Today began the packing process (and let me just get this out there - it's impossible to pack everything one might need for a whole year into two suitcases. 10 bucks to the first person who can let me in on a semi-intelligent solution to that issue!) and I'm sure by tomorrow most of the other things that aren't packed yet will find a snug fit into one of the two checked bags I am brining. It's at this point in the whole travel process where one just wishes it was possible to wake up in Warsaw and not have to deal and/or worry about the preparation for departure anymore.

Anyhow, I hope you all agree with this method of sharing my stories and pictures with you all!

Do zobaczenia w Polsce! See you all in Poland!

--Nick

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